Women carry a higher genetic risk of depression, new study says

"Claiming to be the largest genetic study to date on sex differences in major depression, the research published Wednesday in Nature Communications has found 16 genetic variants linked to depression in women and eight in men. The study, led by Australia's QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, showed a large proportion of the variants associated with depression were shared between sexes, but there was a higher burden of genetic risk in females which could be due to female-specific variants."

"Dr Brittany Mitchell, a senior researcher at QIMR Berghofer's genetic epidemiology lab, said we already know that females are twice as likely to suffer from depression in their lifetime than males. And we also know that depression looks very different from one person to another. Until now, there hasn't been much consistent research to explain why depression affects females and males differently, including the possible role of genetics, Mitchell said."

"The study acknowledged explanations have been put forward spanning behavioural, environmental, and biological domains, including men being less likely to seek help leading to under-diagnosis, and environmental exposures like women being more frequently exposed to sexual abuse and interpersonal violence. The study stated that together these factors highlight the need for a multifaceted approach to understanding the underlying mechanisms of depression but proposed that a key component of the biological mechanisms underlying these disparities could be differences in genetics."

Women carry a higher genetic risk of major depression. Sixteen genetic variants linked to depression were observed in women and eight in men. A large proportion of implicated variants are shared between sexes, while females carry a higher burden of genetic risk potentially driven by female-specific variants. Females are about twice as likely to experience depression in their lifetime, and depressive presentations vary widely between individuals. Explanations span behavioural, environmental, and biological domains, including under-diagnosis in men and greater exposure of women to sexual abuse and interpersonal violence. Genetics are proposed as a key biological component alongside a multifaceted explanatory approach.

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